Nazi Party Growth

• In 1928, the Nazis had only 12 seats in the Reichstag; by July 1932 they had 230 seats and were the largest party

  
• What factors made the Nazi Party appealing to voters?

  • Appeal of Hitler 
  • Role of the SA 
  • Propaganda
• The Nazis continued to put forward their 25-Point Programme agreed in the early 1920s and thus had broader social and geographical appeal than the communists, who only really appealed to the industrial workers in Germany’s cities
• Where did German support come from?

  • Wealthy businessmen: frightened by the increase in support for the communists, they began to finance Hitler and the Nazis
  • The middle-class: alarmed by the obvious failure of democracy, they decided that the country needed a strong government and gave their votes to Hitler
  • Nationalists: they blamed the legacy of the Treaty of Versailles and reparations for causing the depression and so lent their support to the Nazis
  • Rural areas: Nazi support was particularly strong amongst both middle class shopkeepers and artisans, farmers and agricultural labourers
• Nazi Propaganda was controlled by Joseph Goebbels

  
• What were the 3 main aims of Nazi Propaganda?

  • The Führer cult - Hitler was always portrayed as Germany’s saviour – the man who would rescue the country from the grip of depression.
  • Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community) - This was the idea that the Nazis would create one German community that would make religion or social class less relevant to people.
  • Scapegoating the Jews (and others) for Germany’s ills - Jews were often portrayed as sub-human, or as a threat to both the racial purity and economic future of the country
• • Hitler was a great speaker with an extraordinary power to win people over 
  • Goebbels' propaganda campaign was very effective and brought huge support for the Nazis by targeting specific groups of society with different slogans and policies to win their support.
• SA - Also known as Storm Troopers or Brown shirts. A military style organisation of the Nazi party formed in 1921 under Hitler
• The SA played a part in the Nazis’ increasing popularity by?

  • intimidating the Nazis’ political opponents – especially the communists – by turning up at their meetings and attacking them
  • providing opportunities for young, unemployed men to become involved in the party
  • protecting Hitler and other key Nazis when they organised meetings and made speeches